“I’m not sure.” These are common words that many, if not most, have said at some point in their lives. “I don’t know” is also a common response when asked about what one wants or what is best in complex circumstances, especially relational ones.

Anger is often thought of as a dangerous emotion. Sometimes anger just wants to be validated, and then we feel more calm. But sometimes anger is indicating a need.

For many, emotions can feel like an unwanted friend, or a fearsome stranger that we want to stay away from. But how do we even start getting in touch with our emotions?

Therapy spaces talk a lot about emotions. Therapists, therapeutic texts and the work in sessions themselves will often emphasize that getting to know your emotions leads to growth.

How often does money come up in the therapy room? It can be hard to answer a question like this precisely, but data suggests that there is a relationship between our finances and mental health —including debt, spending habits, concerns about inflation, housing costs, fears about losing employment and more.

Grief often amplifies within our systems during the holiday season. From an Internal Family Systems (IFS) perspective, grief is not a problem to solve—it is made up of many parts that carry love, loss, and longing. The following prompts gently invite you to meet your grieving parts with compassion and curiosity over the holiday season.

Climate anxiety, eco-anxiety and eco-grief are all phrases that help capture distressing emotions that more and more people report experiencing in response to threats to our ecology, particularly the reality of a changing climate.

Only through connecting relationally with these emotions (or parts) can they be healed from the often profound sense of disconnection they have experienced at very crucial times in life.